The present invention relates to a collating device, for example for use in mailing machines which collate sheet material for mailing, fold the collated material and insert it into envelopes.
A known collating device is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The device 20 comprises conveyor rollers 21 on a shaft 22, the rollers engaging further conveyor rollers 24 on a shaft 25. As shown in FIG. 2, sheets extracted from a feeding station are fed into the collator device between the rollers 21 & 24 by a rotary drive applied to the shaft 22. The sheets emerge from between the rollers 21 & 24 to enter between a base or lower support plate 27 and an upper or guide plate 29. The path followed by each sheet is curved, as indicated by arrow 30, but once the sheet has fully entered between the plates 27 & 29, it will lie flat so that the next sheet fed in will overlie it.
The shaft 25 mounts not only the rollers 24 but also rollers 31 engaged with rollers 32 on a third shaft 34. The shaft 25 is stationary, and the rollers 24 and 31 are free-running thereon. Thus, rotation of the shaft 34 may effect discharge of a set of sheets accumulated in the collator device.
The discharge of an accumulated stack of sheets from the collator device can be assisted by the inclination of the base plate 27 as shown. Additionally or instead, the sheets can be fed in against a stop member 36 at the inner end of the device, the stop member being biased by a spring 37. Alternatively, the discharge can be assisted by a solenoid operated pusher located at the position of the stop member 36, the pusher being actuated at the beginning of each discharge operation.
This type of collating device requires the various rollers to be driven selectively in order alternately to feed sheets into the device, and to discharge the collated sheets. The present invention aims to provide a more simple device which is easier to operate.